I've been keen to try out some additional rules for Dominion of the Spear that were posted by Mark Cordone on, I believe, The PW Facebook Page (I don't have a link for this but a kind reader may be able to provide one!) I played a couple of games this morning using scenic variations. The "sandpatch" for the games was on the PC, though could easily have been on paper. They worked well and at some stage will be tried out with actual figures...
The setting for these games is Hyboria, an old favourite of many gamers, and was inspired by recent communications with Martin S. and posts on mutazoid's blog, both of whom have been running campaigns using Hordes of the Things rules.
The Kingdom of Ophir has launched a three-pronged attack on its Southern neighbour, Koth.
The first battle was fought on the edge of the Khorshemish Forest - this was a standard DotS game to remind me of the rules. Units for both sides were based on descriptions in Appendix 1 of Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age. Unit initial positions were randomly generated.
Koth (in white) was represented by a unit of Royal Horse Guard (Elite Armoured), a unit of Chariot Archers (Armoured), a unit of Spear armed Infantry (Armoured) and a unit of Archers. Ophir (red) had a unit of Royal Guard (Elite Armoured), a unit of mounted knights (Armoured), a unit of Spear armed Infantry (Armoured) and a unit of Archers. Slight variations of these units appear in the other two battles also. |
| Opening positions |
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| Mid battle |
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| Ophir victorious |
The second battle saw action across a fordable river. No penalties for missiles but a -1 penalty for hand to hand fighting in the river.
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| Battle begins |
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| In the balance |
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| Ophir victorious once more |
The third battle featured a partly defensive arrangement for the Koth army. Mounted troops were deployed outside of the defended village. The infantry were given a defensive bonus.
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| Initial positions |
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| A third victory for Ophir |
Despite the defences, a conclusive victory for the forces of Ophir over those of Koth. The rules and additions have again proven themselves as a useful way of deciding battles when a speedy resolution is called for.
He has this post from April 23 which has rules for terrain, initiative, events and generals. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1834456900102155/posts/3968941576653666/
ReplyDeleteAnd don't know why this keeps posting as anonymous - I'm Michael/Chgowiz from over at chgowiz-games.etinerra.com - recently come into DotS over from HOTT, Chaos Wars and Chainmail. I'm working on some magic inclusions and the like because I run a fantasy campaign and wargames within it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic, thanks for sharing the link Michael.
DeleteIs this the best place to catch up with your tabletop wargaming as well as RPG games? https://chgowiz-games.etinerra.com/category/gaming/
Yes it is, that's the exact category :) It's a bit slow, I've taken a bit of a wargaming break since 2023, I moved into a smaller home that doesn't have quite the space to do minis like I used to. DotS and other games give me some options, although I do still enjoy the thought of large 25mm Ral Partha figures on a tabletop. We'll see!
DeleteI've been reading your blog for a bit now, very much enjoy your posts. Game on!
- Michael/Chgowiz
Thank you Michael - the next post should feature a Fantasy game with a fairly small number of 10mm figures - might suit a downsized house?!!
DeleteYeah - Irregular Miniatures 10mm’s are available as single figures and are relatively cheap (compared to, say, standard 28mm figures). Then again, the Ral Partha 15mm fantasy figures are very lovely and full of character (mostly in mixed packs of 8-10 figures though).
DeleteCheers,
Geoff
I like that Irregular sell their 10mm figures separately.
DeleteYes - google is really getting on my tits with this comments nonsense! Anyway - great post - LOve some REH action, and those rules looks VERY nice for campaign work. love the scope of your Hyboria vision here MJT. I did have a conversion of 'Royal Armies...' to 'Age of Hannibal' on my list and wait, let me check..OH! I just retired...I must get to work LOL
ReplyDeleteCheers Duc. I'm not sure why Google has taken to doing this - someone fixing something that wasn't broken, again.
DeleteScary to think that Royal Armies is 50 years old now!
Thanks for the report - that was an overwhelming victory for Ophir! After three games are you getting to the stage where you have an inkling what’ll happen next, or is the cuboid-of-doom sufficiently influential to make it very unpredictable? (Your presentation skills are way above my level, BTW 🙂. Really nice looking graphics).
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin - Ophir General's had luck on their side for sure.
DeleteThe graphics were actually really simple to do. The background sandy soil is just a "snip" of an image found by Google and reproduced 4 times to make a "board". The trees and river are PNG files from Junior General, and the walls are another "snip" of an image.
I use MS Excel for my Virtual games mainly because I don't have a fancy Graphics programme (also because I'm used to using it for work so I don't have to think too hard!)
I’ve often thought about creating a number of Hyborian armies … and your example might just have convinced me to do just that!
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Bob
It's a nice project Bob. I've been hooked on the idea since the first time I read about Tony Bath's battles in Featherstone's War Games.
DeleteNice little report. The Dominion rules lend themselves to campaigns really well. Dots is easily adapted to fantasy games with most fantasy troops translating easily. For example a dragon would be ferocious armored missile infantry or cavalry. I have some thoughts on other units as well. One can follow the Hott example and just have wizards as artillery. For heroes I've been playing around with the following idea: heroes cost 1 point. At the start of A players turn they may move their hero to join any of their front line units where they remain until their next Turn. Units with A hero get a +1 modifier in combat. If the unit with A hero is destroyed they are removed as well, but probably not killed but perhaps captured instead only to escape and rejoin the army in the next battle. If heroes are with both units in a combat they fight each other instead of adding modifers. Both players roll 1d6 the higher roll wins and kills or captures the other hero with another round being fought in case of ties. I'm very interested in what you think of this idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. Agreed, there's loads of potential for Fantasy games. A Hero in Fantasy literature can almost be a one person unit and I think should be difficult to remove from the fight (killed, wounded, captured etc). I like the idea of two hero figures duelling which is consistent with their roles in fiction. Definitely ideas to develop Mark.
DeleteI have suggested to Steve Parker, author of the Dominion series, that a fantasy version of the rules would be a great idea. Presumably just add-ons to the DotS ancients version to account for magic and its effects, big and/or flying creatures, non-Human armies (Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Undead, Lizardmen etc) and heroics. Not a million miles from the various categories in Hordes of the Things.
DeleteLots of inspiration to be had from this post, glad you are enjoying your gaming.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thanks Alan. The Hyborian World does encourage a childlike excitement for me!
DeleteA couple of years ago Koropotkin posted a fair few Hyborian HotT battle reports - https://kropotkinspage.wordpress.com/?s=Hyboria+ sadly there don’t seem to be any newer ones.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Geoff
Cheers Geoff, will take a look.
DeleteI remember seeing that now - some nice games
DeleteNot much help but, for what it’s worth, David Brown of Evil Gong used to have army lists (DBM I believe) for the various Hyborian nations. I downloaded a copy many moons ago and printed it off (many, many pages). Sadly I didn’t keep an electronic copy nor can I find my paper hardcopy either ☹️
ReplyDeleteI’ve just checked Google, but my limited skills aren’t finding anything especially helpful…
Cheers,
Geoff
I finally managed to find an electronic copy of the file I referred to above. On Facebook, in the Hyborian Realms group, David Brown uploaded Conan DBFi lists.htm on 17 August 2023 😉
DeleteCheers Geoff!
Delete